Start
Start
Weekend morning.
Like most office workers living alone, I'm sprawled out, then slowly get up to start the chores that piled up during the week.
A light glass of soda.
Afterward, I start the laundry that's been piling up for a week and take out the trash.
And just as I returned home and took out the cordless vacuum to start cleaning...
Ding-dong-.
The doorbell rings from the intercom by the front door.
It seems someone is calling our unit from the main entrance.
There's no one who would visit at this hour.
If my parents were coming, they would have contacted me in advance, but there's no such word today.
I don't really have any personal acquaintances around here either, so I approach the intercom, feeling puzzled.
"Who is it?"
- Hello, are you the Workplace Freeloader-nim who posted the ad looking for a roommate on Onion Market?
"Yes? W-well, I am, but..."
Could she have come after seeing the post I wrote about looking for a roommate?
I did get one message about it yesterday.
But the title of my post was "Looking for a Roommate," and the content was "Looking for a roommate in a city an hour away from Seoul. I am a 'man'." It should have been, right...?
"Aren't you a woman?"
- I came after seeing the post looking for a roommate! My legs hurt so much, could you please open the door?
"U-uh, yes..."
Before I knew it, I was pressing the main entrance open button as if possessed.
Before I could even realize what I had done while frozen, the doorbell at my front door rang this time.
And when I opened the front door, there was something unexpected.
"I'm A Piece of Spam with Kimchi and Rice who contacted Workplace Freeloader-nim! Please call me Seo Se-na!"
A beauty who wouldn't lose out anywhere looks at me with a bright smile.
Her energetic voice echoes through the entryway.
Blonde hair so bright it feels radiant, and light brown eyes.
Unlike her Western-like hair and eye color, she has a cute, Eastern beauty facial structure.
Wearing tight leggings and a white t-shirt, pulling a suitcase.
She, who introduced herself as Seo Se-na in a bright and confident voice, walks into my house without hesitation.
"Wow, Freeloader-nim, your house is so nice! You look really young, you must be a total high-achiever! Wow, the TV is huge!"
"No, well..."
A Piece of Spam with Kimchi and Rice... no, Seo Se-na, as soon as she entered the house, was busy looking around the living room and exclaiming in admiration.
Glancing at her, I pour a glass of juice that had been shoved in the fridge.
In my precious house where I live alone, a man alone, a woman?
If it were my mom, that would be one thing, but a very young and attractive-looking blonde woman, right here in my living room?
I pinch my cheek to see if this is real.
It hurts.
Thanks to the pain, I realize reality, but I just can't get used to it.
"Have a drink."
"Wow! I was thirsty, thank you so much!"
Thinking how truly surreal this is, I hand the juice glass to Seo Se-na.
"Pfft, orange juice is the best, as expected."
Seo Se-na takes the glass from me and gulps it down right there.
Why was it so alluring to see a drop of juice leak from under her lip and follow her chin?
I hold back my gaze from wandering, which I was doing without realizing, and slap both my cheeks with both hands.
"By the way, Freeloader-nim?"
"......It's Lee Jin-man."
I'm an office worker with a proper job, so being called a "freeloader" doesn't sit well with me, so I tell her my name.
Even if I was called a "freeloader" online, it was a nickname I made myself, so I didn't feel much about it, but the internet and reality are different, after all.
"Se-na-nim, sit down for a moment."
Right.
This is reality.
If this were a delusion or a novel, I might expect this or that situation, but in reality, that's out of the question.
"Yes, Jin-man-nim!"
Sitting across from each other with the living room table in between, I can see the youthfulness hidden beneath her flashy appearance.
Living with such a pretty woman would be nothing but great from a man's perspective, but reality isn't that easy.
"U-uh, yeah, okay. Thank you for trusting me and coming here in this harsh world. Honestly, coming into a man's house couldn't have been an easy decision. But-"
She was the first person to come seeking to be a roommate after I posted the ad, but just as I was about to open my mouth, thinking it was right to send her back.
Seo Se-na leans her upper body onto the table and grabs my hands.
She holds them with both her hands, with a more desperate expression than anyone else.
"Jin-man-nim! Please, can't you let me live here with you? I'll pay rent on time without fail and do all the housework! You can even treat me like a slave if you want! Please, okay?"
She says such outrageous things so casually, clinging desperately as if this were her last lifeline.
"U-uh, yeah. I understand how you feel, Se-na-ssi, but first of all, our genders are different, right? Not to mention we've just met, so who knows what might happen. I'm sorry, but I can't take you in as a roommate..."
"Please, I'm begging you, Jin-man-nim. I've been wandering from place to place, and now I have no money left, so this is my last resort. If not here, I'll be out on the streets. Can't we just live together for a month or two, please?"
At that moment, I notice Seo Se-na's hands tightly holding mine.
I only then realize the fact that her hands are so small that it takes both of them to cover mine with just a little bit left over.
Silence.
As if the energy Seo Se-na was emitting had disappeared, the air in the house sinks heavily into my silence.
Worry.
Judgment.
A not-so-short time connecting the two.
Seo Se-na keeps glancing at me, but I'm so lost in thought about whether I should really accept this woman that I don't notice her current state.
With my other hand, the one not held by Seo Se-na, I find myself tapping my fingers on the table without realizing it.
They say everyone has a story, but can I really accept her?
"......If anything happens inside here, I don't know anything."
"Th-that means you're allowing me to live here, right? Wow, Jin-man-nim, you're the best, the best!"
Is she that happy to be able to live here?
Seo Se-na stands up and praises me, her voice full of joy and overflowing with cuteness.
The sight of Seo Se-na, who had been watching me like a lost kitten, was quite lethal to a single man who hadn't long to go before his 30s.